A Heart for the Heartless
by BloodieReader
Summary: Hae Soo always thought of King Jeongjong as cruel and ruthless. There was absolutely nothing in him that resembled humanity. She was sure of it. But then she looked into his eyes, and wondered if they were always so full of despair. "Am I even your son?" Oneshot


**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Scarlet Heart: Ryeo, if I did, there would have been A LOT more Yo/Soo interactions. And feelings.**

 **WARNING SPOILERS for Episode 17**

 **Watched the episode earlier today and- just- ugh. Rant at the bottom  
** **OneShot**

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Her heart was racing.

Hae Soo watched the King and Queen Mother, her doe-eyes unblinking as Queen Yoo grabbed a piece of parchment and brush before rushing to her son.

"Yo-ya, Yo-ya..." She held out the brush and parchment. "You need to write this now. Write down that you will be abdicating the throne to Jung." She spoke breathlessly.

Yo turned his head to his mother, but made no acknowledgement. His eyes were glazed over, _hopeless_ , Soo couldn't help but think, and she ignored whatever thoughts of compassion came up, even as she felt a painful tug in her heart.

Some people didn't deserve such kindness, especially not this King. _Think of 10th Prince Eun and his Wife Soon Doek_ , she told herself.

"What?" Yo whispered. His eyes landed on the parchment and brush, as if only now he had noticed them.

Queen Yoo met Yo's dark eyes. "We cannot lose the throne." She spoke resolutely, trying to relay the significance of this moment. "Hurry. Write down that Jung is to be the new King." She pushed the brush into his hand again. "Then we can plan for the future. Go on."

A flicker of emotion in Yo's eyes, before he closed them off again and looked to his mother. "Then... what about me?"

Queen Yoo only pursed her lips together and looked at her son. A conversation Hae Soo wasn't privy to seemed to transpire between them. Yo blinked, looked away, then back at his mother, his eyes gaining a red tinge to them that Soo almost didn't want to see.

"Am I even your son?" His voice, once cold and smooth, a voice that tormented Soo these past two years, cracked under the weight of his emotions.

Soo had to look away from his face, it was so open, so vulnerable, that she couldn't even believe that it belonged to the Wang Yo she knew, King Jeongjong, who murdered his brothers with a smile on his face. She gripped the edge of her sleeves, knuckles turning white, _it's not right_ , she thought to herself, to feel such compassion for someone so ruthless.

She refused to look up from the ground, but couldn't stop his voice from reaching over to her.

"What am I to you, Mother?"

Soo never knew you could hear someone's heartbreak just through their voice. The sharp intake of breath from Yo made Soo glance up, his eyes were red and full with tears, his eyes which used to look at her with such malice-

She cast her eyes to the floor again, _no_ , she hardened herself, she wouldn't- couldn't feel anything for him. Soo bit her lip and focused on the sharp pain instead.

"Just something that exists to sit on the throne?" The way his voice softly shook tugged at something inside Soo, and slowly, she raised her eyes to look at Yo. _I will witness this,_ she thought to herself.

"Do you no longer have any need... for a son who isn't King anymore?!" Yo shouted, tears finally spilling over as he flung his hand from the Queen Mother's grip.

Pale-faced, the Queen Mother tried to find the right words to persuade her son, but as she locked onto his agony-filled eyes, she could only plead helplessly. "Y-yo-ya, don't be this way." She searched his face, looking for the son that had always listened to her order without question. "We will lose everything if you do this."

Yo looked down and gulped in a breath. He looked to be in such pain, whether from his Mothers words or his illness, Soo didn't know, but she couldn't hold back a sliver of pity for the King.

"Hand it over to Jung, please." The Queen Mothers voice shook. She held her emotions back well, even with her son dying in front of her, she refused to show weakness in order to fulfil her plan. Soo could feel her heart start hurting for the King. For Yo.

Nothing else was said as the King coughed. He looked to the right, between the Queen Mother and Soo, tear-filled eyes searching for something before finally halting.

"Now I think I understand So." His voice had lost some of its shakiness, and his expression seemed to have lost its previous vulnerability. "I can relate to how he feels."

Hae Soo blinked, the change was almost too sudden. At first Yo seemed to have almost crumbled from the realisation that his Mother no longer supported him, but now... _he knows he isn't the first,_ Soo thought _, he knows that if So could stand against their Mother, then so could he._

The Queen Mother could only stare, wide-eyed as the son who once would have done anything for her looked to the door. "Take the Queen Mother out of here!" He ordered.

As the guards rushed into the room, the Queen quickly spoke again. "Yo-ya, don't do this. Yo-ya! Yo-ya!" She shouted, leaning closer to her son as the guards grabbed her arms and began pulling her back.

"Yo-ya!" Her voice rang out, her eyes pleaded with Yo to see reason, her reason. "Let go! Yo-ya!"

But the King refused to spare a look at his Mother, and Hae Soo only watched as the Queen Mother struggled to get out of the guards' grip. Only when they had turned her around and were almost into the hallway did Yo look up.

And as the door closed with a final click, Hae Soo once again found herself alone with the King.

A muffling silence covered the room. Soo didn't want to look away from the door, didn't want to see what kind of expression the King had on him now, she didn't think her heart could take it.

For one daring second, she thought, _perhaps... the King wishes to be left alone?_ Turning her body, she took a step towards the door.

Only to flinch and pull-back as a cup was flung past her and smashed into the wall.

Whipping her head around, Soo met the intense eyes of Yo. His face was pale, cheeks red and tear-streaked, but his eyes were dark and resolute. Even when he looked away from her, Soo couldn't move, her body frozen by the reminder of how the King had previously tormented her.

This King may be cruel, but it was one she knew how to handle. Hae Soo felt that whatever emotions well-up for the King disappear.

He spun to face her, the smirk that usually adorned his face made him look almost unhinged, and as he laughed, stepping towards her, Hae Soo made herself freeze. Backing away now would not be good for her.

"I knew that he would end up getting everything." Yo laughed again.

Hae Soo said nothing, and kept her face clear of any emotions as Yo stared at her. It felt as if he was staring deep into her soul, looking at the very core of her being for something.

Then he glanced away, almost awkwardly, Soo noted, his expression tightened, and it looked as if he was having a conflict within himself.

And then he looked back at her, and Soo felt all the air leave her lungs. Those eyes with which he looked at the Queen Mother with were now directed at her. Red-rimmed with tears, expression pained and hurting, he didn't once look away as he asked. "What did I do so wrong?" In a quiet, lost voice.

For a second, Soo felt like being cruel, she wanted to remind him of his hand in the death of Crown Prince Moo, and how he ordered Prince Eun and his Wife to be hunted like animals- but, watching as his eyes started slowly overflowing with tears, she found she couldn't.

She didn't need to, it seemed, as he looked as if he heard her unspoken accusations in her silence. "I was afraid that I would get thrown away, as well, just like So." His voice shook as he stared imploringly at Soo. "I thought I would be cast off."

More tears spilled from his eyes, and Hae Soo wondered what he wanted from her in that moment. This vulnerability he was suddenly showing her... why? She was so confused, out of everyone he had, he had picked her to see this side of him, to see him at his lowest point.

 _But_ , a slow, sad realization came to Soo, _does he have anyone else?_

Soo gripped her chest as Yo bent over and started coughing. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to experience this. This- this all too human and hurting creature that was Yo. She knew what he wanted from her now, what his eyes kept asking her with their fragile looks.

He wanted her to give him some peace. He wanted forgiveness.

Unaware of Soo's internal thoughts, Yo continued. "Mother said to me..." She could ignore it, Soo thought, ignore how lost and pained he sounded. "She said I was complete and not lacking anything." Yo gasped out a few pained breaths. Remember Soo, remember all that he's done to hurt you. "Yet..."

He stopped moving and looked away from her, a myriad of expressions crossed his face before he turned back to her, mouth set in a snarl as he glared. "It is all because of you."

 _Yes, yes,_ Soo inwardly cheered him on, _blame me, hate me, so I could do the same to you._

"Becuase you got involved, you wench!" Soo tried to move away, but Yo was too fast as he pounced forward, gripping her arms, her threw her to the floor.

She stayed down, not looking up at him as he moved around her. "You should choose." He sat next to her, pulling the parchment and brush to himself, ignoring his own pain, he started writing his last decree.

"Who should I give the throne to?" He coughed, the swung his head to face her. "Choose."

Hae Soo rubbed her chest and looked back at him, head still tipped submissively. She found the manic look in her eyes easier to deal with than the hurt. "Wook? Baek Ah or So?" He shouted out So's name at her and she couldn't help her flinch.

He laughed, a short and out of breath sound, at her. "You're so great. Why don't you choose?" Yo smiled at her, but it was brittle and empty. _He's scared_ , she thought, but refused to feel anything for him. She refused.

Suddenly the sounds of troops were heard. _'Find the King!'_ One shouted, as the footsteps dispersed into all directions.

The smile fell off of Yo's face as he realised his time was running out. A quick glance at Soo, he turned back to the parchment and finished writing his last Royal decree.

It was getting harder to breath, Yo noticed as he struggled to pull himself up. Standing, he scrunched the parchment into one hand and held it out to Soo.

And with that hand out to her, still kneeling on the floor, Yo took a shaky step forward. And another, and another.

Hae Soo watched as the King started clutching at his chest, coughing out a breath he fell to his knees in front of her. Hand still stretched out.

He had that look on his face again, she noted, the desperate one that wants something. It occurred to a distant part of Soo that maybe even the King didn't know what he wanted.

She looked to the trembling hand before her, then back at Yo's pained face. She ignored the way her heart lurched. He looked almost like a child who didn't know why he was being punished. Why he was being left alone.

Hae Soo swallowed. _No. Think of Crown Prince Moo, Prince Eun, Soon Doek._

Yo's entire body was trembling now, but still he moved his head closer to her. _One last plea_ , she thought.

"I was only... trying to survive."

And that's the thing about living in the Palace as a Ro _yal,_ Hae Soo thought as she stared into his eyes that _begged her to understand him_ , you learn to do anything to survive.

For a few agonising seconds, Hae Soo did not move. She wanted to refuse her hear, what it was telling her to do. But as she watched the despair rise in Yo's eyes, the anguish that enveloped his expression at what he believed to be her dismissal of him.

Her resistance crumbled.

With her own heartbeat booming in her ears, Hae Soo shakily raised her hand. Yo's eyes widened, an emotion that Soo did not want to identify entered them as she brought her hand to his outstretched one.

His breath coming faster, Yo went to release the parchment into her hands when she gripped him by the wrist instead. Breath caught in his throat, Yo could only stare at her hand, a light frown on his face.

Hae Soo almost laughed, the Kings expression looked oddly childlike in his confused state. Looking back down at where she held him, she couldn't help but wonder at the last time someone ever gently touched the King. _Most likely it was the Queen Mother_ , Soo reasoned, _and only the Queen Mother..._

She swallowed down the bitterness at the back of her throat and took a deep breath. She started this, she couldn't turn back now.

Slowly, she started pulling Yo towards her, making sure to keep her grip lax enough for him to pull out of if he so wished.

And yet he didn't not even when he got closer, and realisation bloomed across his face. The surprise on his face, in his eyes, was so genuine that it almost hurt Soo.

They were much closer now. Yo had his eyes on Soo's face as she slowly released the hand that held him. He kept staring, his face almost deathly pale, eyes still rimmed red, Soo found she couldn't stare into his eyes for long. There were too many delicate emotions roaming in them. She almost wished Yo had stayed angry and cruel until the end. Almost.

He knew what she planned next. No way he couldn't. And yet, he still didn't stop her. He did nothing except pant out breaths as she rose to her knees, moved her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Yo's entire body shuddered as Soo pressed him into her. He allowed her to gently orientate his head into the crook of her neck and take in her warmth.

Hae Soo closed her eyes and took deep breaths, Yo's body was trembling violently and part of her wondered how much of it was actually due to his illness, and how much was from this one act of... kindness? Or was she consoling him? She wasn't sure of her own behaviour. She was fine with not knowing herself.

But as Yo's limps arms slowly encircled around her waist, pulling her even closer to his body and she felt her shoulder starting to get damp, she couldn't deny it anymore.

Her heart had been moved at his show of emotion and had led her body to this. She idly wondered how So would react if he found them like this, _definitely angry._

She couldn't just leave it like this though, she couldn't let him believe that he had been forgiven of his past sins. They were just too great and hurt too much to ignore.

Almost automatically, Soo started rubbing slow circles into his back, Yo's shoulders had stopped shaking and now he seemed to be taking in her open affection.

"I..." Her voice broke the silence of the room and she felt Yo tense, but Soo only continued rubbing circles into his back until she felt him relax again. "I can't forgive you." She spoke softly. Yo didn't show any signs of acknowledgement. Soo took this as a good sign to continue. "But... I can give you some peace."

She felt a rush of air expel against her, and then the weight of Yo seemed to double, causing Soo to fall back on her legs.

Yo went with her, his head never once leaving her shoulder even as Soo's arms released him. A small, out-of-breath laugh tickled Soo's neck and she tilted her head to see that Yo had move rotated himself to half face her.

Soo looked over his face, red and blotchy from crying into her shoulder (and isn't that a strange thought, Yo, crying on her), but his eyes, while still red-rimmed, looked lighter, and even the smirk tugging on his lips looked gentler than anything she was used to from him.

She didn't move as he reached up and tugged softly at one of her loose strands of hair, a look of affection crossed his features, and Soo wished she had missed it. "I wish..." His hand dropped, and his head lolled into the curve of her neck. Releasing the parchment from his hand, Yo used the last of his strength to clutch at her dress. "I wish you were one of my people."

One last breath on her neck, and then Yo's dead body slowly fell from her, and slumped to the floor.

Hae Soo didn't want to feel anything. She didn't want to feel pity for this man, she didn't want her heart to go out to him. She didn't want to think that, maybe, if she had tried to reach out and connect with him like she had done with the other Brothers-

And that was how So found her. Sitting on the floor, next to the dead King Jaeongjong, face stoic except for the tears running down her face.

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 **Rant:**  
 **Okay so a part of me, loved how Yo's death went, the acting was so on point and emotional that I loved every second of it.**  
 **My issue? Hae Soo's reaction. Now I get that Yo deserves her anger and hate, but at the same time, throughout the entire series Soo has been shown to be a compassionate and unselfish person, regardless of the person. Like go back to her first interactions with So. He was a dick, he killed people. Yes, he did change, and no I'm not arguing that Soo does a complete 180 on Yo and forgive him. She just, could have reacted better in his dying moments i feel. I rewatched the scene a few times and she says nothing the entire time, nor does she even take his outstretched hand to accept the parchment.**

 **Yo straight up died alone and with no one. It was beautifully tragic i gotta say.**  
 **Rant Over :D**


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